The Official Los Angeles Lakers Thread

[Richard]

Tough loss last night. Dallas played much better down the stretch and the Lakers couldn't get stops.

[Angel Oracle]

Young teams will have games like that.  

Dallas is not THAT good without Dirk or Deron Williams or Devin Harris, granted they added Barnes and Bogut.

[Angel Oracle]

Barea to the Lakers = Bloomquist to the Halos.

I was about to ask if Seth Curry was still in the NBA.

They obviously did a very poor job guarding Barnes, a solid player but not 31 pts solid.

[HaloMilliVanilli]

Felt the absence of Larry Nance Jr against Dallas.  He brings great energy most nights and is a terrific help defender.  Not sure if he's cleared to go against Sac-town tonight, but it is another opportunity for us to show our development against a lower-level squad.  Bring the effort tonight boys and, for god sake, protect the ball.

[Angels_Make_Me_Drink]

Boom! What a win tonight! Down 19 only to dominate throughout the 2nd half! Who would have thought Sweet Lou and Uncle P would be catalysts in fueling comebacks.

Julius Randle with another great game. Dude is freakishly quick and strong. Continue progressing young fella! 

Russell shot was on tonight; too careless with the ball though and needs to put more effort in on defense.

Ingram plays like someone who has been in the league for 4 years. He does not look like a 19 year old out there. He is a smart basketball player. I can't wait until the offense starts to come. 

[HaloMilliVanilli]

I think Nance was integral tonight as well, especially with his effort on D.  That can sometimes be contagious and be a catalyst for comebacks.  Agree with your observations on DLo.  WAAAAAYY too careless with passes and when trying to split double teams.  He is good for 1-2 of the latter per game seemingly.  

That one-handed lefty jam off the lob by Mozgov was pretty impressive!

[Angels_Make_Me_Drink]

Totally forgot about Nance. He is the textbook definition of a hustle player and glue guy! I love him off of the bench; I wanted him as a starter because Randle looked so bad in the preseason. I'm so glad he's proving me wrong, too. 

[Richard]

LOL at Boogie trying to intimidate Randle in the Lakers post game huddle.

 

 

[HaloMilliVanilli]

Another W tonight, this time on the road at New Orleans.  I really look forward to watching this team.  Seems like there is so much joy and camaraderie between these guys.  Lou Williams, DLo and Jordan Clarkson all went for 20+ and a great all-around game by Randle.  Gotta love the bench thus far.  #1 in all of the league, scoring nearly 50 points per game.  It's crazy that we have 9 guys averaging 20 minutes per game, and our high minutes guy is Randle at 28.0 per game.  Should keep everyone fresh to run...run...run!

The only real blight on our otherwise joyous season is the play of Luol Deng.  Luckily, we aren't relying on him to do too much and can let him find himself within our success.  Looking forward to the roadie vs. Minnesota T.wolves tomorrow at 4.

[Richard]

Team has to come out with better energy to start games. Another game where they trailed at the half by double digits but this time they couldn't overcome the deficit.

Big stretch of games coming up with Brooklyn, San Antonio, Chicago, OKC, and back to back against the Warriors.

[nando714]

2nd game of a back to back. That was kinda expected but not that bad 

[Angel Oracle]

What got into Andrew Wiggins?

He wasn't a flop, like the 1st overall pick from UNLV (Bennett) a few years back.   But he wasn't anything like this, before this season.

24 pts for Bjelica?  Who?

[Angel Oracle]

Phil shot down rumors that he was coming back to be the Lakers team president.   He likes what Walton and Shaw are getting started.

[Angel Oracle]

Another high scoring win for the Lakers, I'm loving this offense.   7-5 record currently

[Richard]

Great game for Russell and Randle. 

Also Mozgov had probably his best game as a Laker.

The 2nd unit with Black Clarkson Deng help put the Lakers out in front with Lou Williams having an off night.

 

I know it doesn't show in the box score, but it is very encouraging to see how far along a defender Brandon Ingram already is. There was a big possession in the closing minuted where Booker tried to back him in(Ingram must have been giving up like 25-30 lbs) and Ingram didn't bite on the fake and blocked his shot creating a turnover.

[Angel Oracle]

Points continue to be scored at a good pace, and continue to be given up at a good pace with two high scoring games against the Spurs and Bulls.  

Good news is, no one is blowing them out.   They are always competitive.   That is the first step forward on a path to getting back to being a strong franchise. 

[Richard]

HO-LY SHIT..

Westbrook was insane in the 4th and wow Nick Young saves the game!

[Angel Oracle]

Won it without Russell, and with Randle nursing a sore hip.

Thank you Swaggy P for the save.

Westbrook is stupid good.   Any chance he comes here upon FA?   What a perimeter that could be: Russell, Westbrook, Clarkson, and Ingram. 

[nando714]

7 hours ago, Angel Oracle said:

Won it without Russell, and with Randle nursing a sore hip.

Thank you Swaggy P for the save.

Westbrook is stupid good.   Any chance he comes here upon FA?   What a perimeter that could be: Russell, Westbrook, Clarkson, and Ingram. 

RW just signed an extension but it looks like the lakers have the pieces to add him down the road. 

This team is fun to watch. Players energized. Not playing for an old school coach like Scott may have something to do with it ...

[Angel Oracle]

Might be best then to not pursue RW, and disrupt the team chemistry via a big trade.

The offense is waaaay ahead of where it was with Bryant's farewell tour and "Princeton offense" Scott slowing things down with younger players.

[Angel Oracle]

Having Luke in charge can't hurt.   He does seem to be a players coach, who has created a really solid offense already. 

[Richard]

A superstar like Russ could help get them over the top ala Shaq coming in and making a young 7-8 seed Lakers team into a WCF contender every year.

..but that's a conversation for a different year, and I'm just enjoying watching these guys fight every night and pull out some of these games.

 

It's been far too long since we've had this much to cheer for.

[Richard]

Shit..

 

 

[Angel Oracle]

Bad pair of games against G.S. followed by solid game against ATL

[Richard]

More bad news, looks like Nick Young might have torn his achilles.